Asinara Boat Trips

Day Trip Boat Tours to Asinara

• The most popular choice is to join a day boat tour from Stintino or Porto Torres
• The tours typically last from 7 to 8 hours and include stops for swimming, snorkeling, seeing highlights of the island, and learning about its history and natural environment
• Prices vary depending on the company and type of tour, but generally start at around €30 per person.

During these tours, participants can explore some of the most beautiful beaches in the area, famous for their crystal-clear waters and white sand. Some popular destinations include Spiaggia della Pelosa and the Isola dell’Asinara, a national park with rich biodiversity and a fascinating history as a former penal colony. The excursions also offer the opportunity to spot local wildlife, including dolphins, sea turtles, and various species of birds.

Sailing Excursions to Asinara

Mini cruises: If you have more time, you can opt for a multi-day mini cruise with overnight stays on board. These cruises offer a more comprehensive experience of the island and allow you to explore more remote coves. Prices vary depending on the duration of the cruise and the type of boat, but generally start at around €200 per person. Mini cruises allow you to experience Asinara in greater depth, with the chance to visit less accessible places during day trips. Overnight stays on board let you enjoy the island's night tranquility, with starry skies and the ability to listen to the sound of the waves crashing on the shore.

Asinara Mini Cruises by Sailboat

Mini cruises: If you have more time, you can opt for a multi-day mini cruise with overnight stays on board. These cruises offer a more comprehensive experience of the island and allow you to explore more remote coves. Prices vary depending on the duration of the cruise and the type of boat, but generally start at around €200 per person. Mini cruises allow you to experience Asinara in greater depth, with the chance to visit less accessible places during day trips. Overnight stays on board let you enjoy the island's night tranquility, with starry skies and the ability to listen to the sound of the waves crashing on the shore.

Boat Tours to Asinara

• The Isola Asinara is an island located in the Northwest of Sardinia and is easily reachable by boat from Stintino and Porto Torres
• It is part of a Marine Protected Area, and as such can only be explored thoroughly by catamaran or sailboat
• It is the second largest island of Sardinia and is known for its crystal-clear sea and white donkeys

Rates

Tickets for boat trips to Asinara cost between €50 and €150

The fee varies depending on the duration of the excursion, the boat used, the departure port, the season, and the services offered.

Prices are indicative and non-binding. Select the type of excursion you prefer to know the official price.

Boat trips to Asinara depart from Stintino and Porto Torres.

You can also find departures from Alghero and Bosa

Typically, boat trips to Asinara depart in the morning and return around 6 PM.

How to Book

Online booking is mandatory, otherwise you risk not finding a spot. Additionally, online prices are often lower.

Choose the yacht, motorboat, or boat you prefer from the options, you can quickly see the duration, rate, and departure port at a glance.

On the page of each activity, you can see the choose the departure date and enter your details. It's not necessary to print the ticket; you can simply show it from your smartphone on the day of boarding.

At least 2-3 days in advance.

Boat trips to Asinara are in high demand. Especially in high season, you risk not finding a spot if you book at the last minute. For this reason, we suggest booking as early as possible.

Generally, the trips to Asinara are made:

• by sailboat
• by catamaran

Asinara is part of a protected marine area, which is why motorboats have several limitations.

The best way is therefore to choose a sailboat or a catamaran.

Your ticket will be refunded or you will be asked to choose another date.

All boat excursions require suitable weather conditions to ensure safe navigation.

For this reason, it is at the captain's discretion – for the safety of his passengers and the vessel – to decide whether to carry out the excursion or not.

Information about boat trips to Asinara

Asinara is an island rich in history and nature, allowing you to vary your activities during your visit. You can choose from several activities:

• Guided nature walks or self-guided,
• Historical visits to the Asinara prisons;
• Snorkeling in the Asinara Marine Area;
• Diving;
• Off-road excursions;
• Catamaran and sailboat tours in the most beautiful bays of Asinara;
• Mountain bike tours, assisted cycling, and electric car tours

The Asinara penitentiary was active from the early 1880s and subsequently closed in 1998, making way for the Asinara National Park. The isolation of Asinara due to the presence of the prison for over a century has helped to make it, on one hand, a fascinating and mysterious island, while at the same time promoting its conservation, turning it into an invaluable natural heritage.

The transition from prison to National Park took place between the late 1990s and the early 2000s. The Asinara penitentiary was definitively closed in 1998, gradually making way for the Asinara National Park.

The Asinara is a National Park, and there are 3 protected areas:

• Protected Marine Area of Asinara Island;
• Site of Community Importance Asinara Island;
• Special Protection Area Asinara Island.

The Park Authority is very active on the island, and the results of this protection regime are tangible. The rules of the Park and the Protected Marine Area are highly valued and respected on the island.

When visiting Asinara, one can feel their presence and admire the results of the incredible conservation work in place. Many nature and scientific activities are permitted, including eco-sustainable trips aimed at safeguarding and discovering the territory, all of which are well-regulated. In the waters surrounding Asinara Island, motor navigation is allowed only in certain approach corridors, outside of which motor propulsion is not allowed.

Hiking is encouraged and well-marked, but be careful, as there are portions of the land that are inaccessible due to total protection regulations where passage is not allowed.

It is possible to visit Asinara on horseback, rent an electric bike, rent an electric car, and go trekking.

Always rely on a guide or choose an organized excursion to avoid any bans or fines.

The flora of Asinara is typical of the Mediterranean scrub. During terrestrial excursions, it is possible to spot many plant species, including cornflowers, various types of spurge, juniper, and cistus. The famous helichrysum of Asinara is used to create many beauty products.

In the Cala Reale area, there is Farmasinara, a small shop where you can purchase products made from herbs collected on the island. Farmasinara is a project aimed at studying the natural resources of Asinara Island.

In the shop in Cala Reale, there are also cosmetic products made from donkey milk. The donkey milk used for cosmetics comes from Sardinian donkeys, not from donkeys on Asinara because the animals present on the island are protected. During your excursion to Asinara, you can stop by the Farmasinara shop, a concentrate of nature and beauty where you can find truly unique natural products.

The fauna of Asinara is quite interesting, both for introduced species and endemic species, making it a focus of studies and conservation projects.

Among the bird species definitely worth mentioning are the Corsican gull, the common tern, the great shearwater, the lesser shearwater, the crested cormorant, the storm petrel, the peregrine falcon, and the barn owl.

The terrestrial and amphibious fauna includes many representatives such as the common tortoise, Sardinian discoglossus, emerald toad, mouflon, Sardinian hare, hedgehog, wild boar, goat, and of course, the donkey.

On Asinara, there are Sardinian donkeys with gray coats and white donkeys, the albino variation, whose origins are still not well identified. The three most accredited hypotheses regarding the origin of the albino variation are:

• import from Egypt;
• arrival aboard a presumably French vessel;
• autochthonous origin derived from the gray specimens.

It is certainly known that it is a hereditary alteration that determines the white coat color and the pink skin color. The iris is partially pigmented pink, generally not red. The white donkeys are smaller than their gray counterparts, photophobic, and quite delicate.

In the Cala Reale area, there is the Sea Observatory with the Marine Animal Recovery Center, where many specimens of Caretta caretta, the typical Mediterranean sea turtle, are rescued every year.

In the Mediterranean Sea, there are also 2 other species of sea turtles that pass through and sometimes nest:

• Dermochelys coriacea or leatherback turtle;
• Chelonia mydas or green turtle.

These specimens often need care as they are injured during human activities such as fishing and boating. The center takes care of their rehabilitation and subsequent reintegration into the wild.

Snorkeling in Asinara offers many surprises. The species present are not remarkable for their rarity but for their size. In just a few meters of water, you can admire groupers, sea eagles, mullets, breams, and barracudas. For divers, either with tanks or free diving, it is definitely a must to dive in Asinara: an extraordinary spectacle at giant dimensions that is not easily forgotten.

If you want to spend several days in Asinara to do different types of excursions and explore the island to the fullest, the best way is to stay in a bed and breakfast or a hostel in Asinara. The island has some interesting accommodation options. The SognAsinara hostel overlooks Cala d’Oliva and has spacious dormitories set in a building of the prison system. Also in Cala d’Oliva is the locanda del Parco, a small and charming B&B recently renovated, with smaller dimensions and a more exclusive character.

The island of Asinara was quite famous from the late 1800s to the late 1900s for being the site of an important penal colony. During this troubled period, figures from both the Red Brigades and the Kidnapping Company as well as Mafia families of Cosa Nostra were detained on the island.
Among the prisoners notorious in Italian news are Salvatore "Toto" Riina, Raffaele Cutolo, Leoluca Bagarella, Matteo Boe; the latter being infamous for escaping from Asinara in 1986 on a rubber boat. In over 100 years of operation, only one inmate managed to escape, earning Asinara the nickname of Italian Alcatraz. Some buildings from the penal regime are currently open for visits, including the museum located in the Central Branch of Cala D’Oliva: a leap into recent history that unveils many often unknown or overlooked aspects.
The prison system on the island ranged from the agricultural penal colony to the so-called harsh prison regime, including the special 41BIS. In the penal colony, inmates could work and move with partial autonomy as this regime allowed a certain degree of freedom and socialization. On Asinara, there was also the harsh prison regime for particularly heinous crimes or Mafia offenses. The buildings designated for this regime are currently not visitable due to state secrets.

Certainly, various branches of the prisons are present on the island. All the settlements on Asinara were used - and often created - by the prison system for the penal colony and the high-security prison. In Cala d’Oliva at the Central Branch, there is a recently inaugurated museum where it is possible to see the cells, common areas, and work zones.

In Cala d’Oliva, you can see the house - former guest house - where the two judges stayed in the summer of 1985. For security reasons, the two magistrates and their families were urgently transferred from Palermo to Alghero and taken to Asinara, where they wrote part of the sentences of the Maxi Trial. This story is depicted in the film Era D’Estate, filmed right in Asinara. Generally, it is not possible to enter the "red brick house by the sea," but the view from the outside is still very evocative.

Asinara is a well-known and famous island that hosts many tourists and visitors every year. It is important to book excursions online because spots are limited, and without a reservation, you might not find availability. A video about Asinara that nicely describes the historical, cultural, educational, and natural activities of the island and The Changing of the Guard – Journey in Asinara. The video is quite detailed, lasting about 27 minutes. You can watch the video before your vacation in Asinara to prepare, or you can watch it after taking an excursion on the island to relive the places you visited.